Airman who was "beaten up by soldier after having sex with his wife demanded 50,000 to keep quiet about the attack"

Airman who was 'beaten up by RAF colleague after having sex with his wife demanded 50,000 not to press charges' Lisa Jacques, 28, said she had affair with RAF corporal Justin AshtonAshton denied having sex and said they just exchanged naked picturesMr Jacques heard about affair and allegedly beat up Cpl AshtonAirman demanded money from Mrs Jacques to keep quiet about attackWife couldn't afford to pay him so he pressed charges against Cpl JacquesCorporal Dale Jacques yesterday found not guilty of grievous bodily harmAshton 'could face charge of perjury after claiming they didn't have sex'

By
Larisa Brown

PUBLISHED:

14:20 GMT, 17 January 2013

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UPDATED:

15:04 GMT, 17 January 2013

An airman who was allegedly beaten up by a soldier after he had sex with his wife demanded 50,000 from her not to press charges.

RAF corporal Justin Ashton, 37, had an affair with Lisa Jacques, 28, and even paid for her to hire a babysitter so they could have sex, a British military court heard yesterday.

After her husband, Corporal Dale Jacques, 26, heard about the affair he confronted the airman, a court martial heard.

Lisa Jacques, left, who said she cheated on her husband Corporal Dale Jacques, right, with an airman. Corporal Justin Ashton was then allegedly beaten up by her husband and pressed charges

Jacques, serving with the Royal
Signals claimed he struck Cpl Ashton after the airman tried to attack
him with a large safety cone.

But Cpl Ashton claimed he was struck
and head butted between 40 and 50 times by the physical training
instructor and former boxer and left cut and bruised.

The two men were both serving at RAF
Digby, Lincolnshire, when the incident happened in March last year, the court
martial at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was told.

Cpl Jacques confronted the other
serviceman in the laundry of the base gym and claimed he only threw one
punch when Cpl Ashton went for him, armed with a heavy cone.

He confronted the airman after being tipped off that Ashton and his wife Lisa had had sex two weeks earlier.

Ashton, an IT expert with a high
security clearance claimed they were just friends but admitted they had
swapped mobile phone pictures of each other naked in the bath.

But Mrs Jacques told the
hearing that they had had sex and Cpl Ashton had even paid for her to
hire a babysitter so she could go round to his quarters.

After the two men had fought in the gym she said Cpl Ashton had tried to get her to delete the intimate photographs and text messages on her mobile phone.

And it was alleged he even demanded 50,000 from her to stop him reporting the alleged assault.

Corporal Justin Ashton, right, and the injures he sustained, left, after he was allegedly beaten up after having an affair with a soldier's wife

She said he then demanded 2,500 to
keep quiet and when she said she only had 300 in the bank he was said
to have replied 'that's not enough'.

When she failed to give him any money, Cpl Ashton then reported the incident to the military police and Cpl Jacques was charged with actual bodily harm and requested to appear before a court martial.

The hearing was told that he wanted the text messages to be deleted because he feared for his 'high level' security vetting status.

The prosecution claimed that Cpl
Ashton had picked up the plastic cone to defend himself after being
struck on the side of the head with a 'haymaker' punch.

Under cross examination Cpl Ashton
admitted that he and Mrs.Jacques had sent each other texts and thought
she had shown them to her husband to 'get back at him'.

But he could now be investigated over suggestions he committed perjury after the woman claimed they did have sex.

Mr.Dingle Clarke, for Cpl Jacques suggested that because of Cpl Ashton's positive security vetting 'engaging in an illicit affair with another soldier's wife would be about as bad as it gets'.

The court martial was told that after Ashton had demanded compensation to keep quiet, Mrs Jacques had complained to the RAF Police.

But it was almost two months later that they took a statement from her but then when she was warned that she could face a charge of perverting the course of justice if she continued with her complaint, she decided to drop it.

Cpl. Ashton and his wife are now getting divorced.

He was cleared of a charge of causing actual bodily harm after claiming he had used 'minimum' force against Cpl Ashton.

After the case military source said it was possible that Cpl Ashton would face an investigation over an allegation of perjury for his claim they did not have sex.